Thursday, October 10, 2013

A MummyVision Guide To Hallowe'en On Roku - Day #10 REALITY, OR PARANORMAL REALITY? YOU DECIDE !!

Welcome, Boils & Ghouls !!

Another day dawns for us all and, with it, the 2013 Countdown To Hallowe'en continues... and so too does my month-long blogathon "A MummyVision Guide To Hallowe'en On Roku". If you're new to this blog, we're now on our tenth installment in this series, which began with details of a Hallowe'en ScreamSaver, complete with spooky soundtrack, followed by a Roku channel dedicated to Vintage Horror Classics, then some Hallowe'en "How-To" videos, a Roku channel for fans of the paranormal and then another for devotees of independent horror. After that came a channel dedicated to the open discussion of UFO's and UFO-related activities plus a further selection of Cult Films, Sci-Fi Classics & Vintage Horror. Since then, we've provided details of a Roku channel brimming with creepy cocktail suggestions and another channel with a selection of classic flicks to boost your Hallowe'en / Horror movie choices. Today, we're giving you details of a channel that mixes paranormal reality tv shows with powerful documentaries, mysteries, conspiracy theories, UFO's and plenty more besides, to help broaden the spectrum of Hallowe'en entertainment on your Roku ahead of October 31st !!

It may surprise you to learn that this paranormal reality-based Roku channel IS NOT part of the "Special Interest" genre (i.e. category) BUT, instead, can be found in the "Film & TV" genre of the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store (or, "Movies & TV", for those of you in the USA). Then again, since even the content for this channel is, by it's very nature, somewhat out-of-the-ordinary... you may not find that surprising, at all !! Generally speaking, 'Paranormal Reality TV - Free Zone' provides an opportunity to sample many of the movies, programmes and tv series found in the paid version of the channel, 'Paranormal Reality TV - HD Zone', which requires a monthly subscription of £3.99. Much more than just a preview, however, you can expect to see full-length movies and whole episodes of many television series included with 'Paranormal Reality TV - Free Zone'. Perhaps best of all, is that these are ALL COMPLETELY FREE TO WATCH although the range of choice is limited in comparison with the subscription-based 'Paranormal Reality TV - HD Zone', as you might expect.

So what can you expect to find, content-wise, on the 'Paranormal Reality TV - Free Zone' channel? Well, believe it or not, there's quite a lot on offer considering this channel is both FREE-TO-ADD and FREE-TO-WATCH on your Roku players. To illustrate my point, at the time of writing, you have the choice to view anything from the following list:-

Episode #1 - The Boys from ECPRT investigate the possibility of paranormal activity inside the National Historic Slater Mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

So, as you can see, there's TONS OF FREE CONTENT available for you to watch on the 'Paranormal Reality TV - Free Zone' channel, ensuring you have plenty of ways to pass the time between my daily doses of Roku-related Hallowe'en horror in "A MummyVision Guide To Hallowe'en On Roku" while, at the same time, helping to satisfy your appetite for all things paranormal in the build-up to Hallowe'en with October 31st now just three weeks away !!

Meanwhile, if you would like to connect with the "Paranormal Reality TV - HD Zone" channel, you can do so via their Twitter Feed: @ParanormalRoku although, from my own recent experience, they do not appear to be prolific "tweeters", having made a GRAND TOTAL of fifty-five tweets thus far, since July 2011. In fact, their most "recent" activity was just over a month ago, on 7th September 2013, so don't expect an immediate response from them via that particular social media approach. Perhaps a better solution would be to use the CONTACT FORM on their official website or, if you just want to get social, then do so via their Facebook Page: Paranormal Reality TV (Facebook).

It may further interest you to know that the "Paranormal Reality TV - HD Zone" channel was developed for Roku by Axiomy.com whose rather minimalist website can be viewed HERE. Still, it does include their email address if you happen to be looking for help with the development, hosting and publishing of your TV channel or radio station on Roku, Google TV, Android or Ipad.

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PLEASE NOTE:- Towards the end of August 2013, many Roku owners were reporting that they had experienced some issues with video playback on the 'Paranormal Reality TV - Free Zone' channel. In response to this, they posted the following statement via their Facebook page on 24th August:-

We have identified the playback issue and it should only affect the Free Zone channel. It is not on our end. The problem is with the ad-roll company app. When there is no ad to play it kicks back the the main Roku screen. This should not happen. We are in contact with the ad company about the issue and hopefully it will be fixed soon. The subscription HD Zone is working correctly with no playback issues.

They followed this up, two days later, with another statement (again, via Facebook) on 26th August:-

We have now restored service to the Free Zone app. Please email us if you have any more issue with service. Thank you.

However, six weeks on from their announcement that they had "restored service" to the Free Zone app, many people are STILL HAVING PROBLEMS with video playback for the 'Paranormal Reality TV - Free Zone' channel and, unfortunately, suffering THE EXACT SAME SYMPTOMS where, no matter which video you try to play, you are immediately "kicked back" to the Roku Home Screen.

Our advice, if you are experiencing this particular problem with the 'Paranormal Reality TV - Free Zone' channel, is for you to send a direct message to the channel using the CONTACT FORM on their Official Website. If the problem persists, perhaps someone at 'Paranormal Reality TV' can arrange for Roku owners to get FREE ACCESS to the subscription based 'Paranormal Reality TV - HD Zone' until the problem is completely resolved with 'Paranormal Reality TV - Free Zone' ?!!

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Putting aside any potential video playback problems for a moment, those of you who might wish to add this channel to the Hallowe'en-themed entertainment on your Roku player(s) but are, perhaps, unable to access the Channel Store on your device at this precise moment... can also take care of things by simply LOGGING-IN to your Online Roku Account, scrolling down to the 'Manage Account' section, and using the "Add a Private Channel" option. That way, when you do have access to your Roku player, the 'Paranormal Reality TV - Free Zone' channel will be there ready for you to watch whenever you so choose (barring any playback issues, of course) !! All you must do to achieve this, is type the access code under "Add a Private Channel" and click the blue 'Add Channel' button:-

ACCESS CODE:- paranormalfreezone

Anyway, that's pretty much all there is to it, except to point out the 'Paranormal Reality TV - Free Zone' channel has been given an average score of "3.5 out of 5" from 278 ratings (so far) in the channel store description from the Official Roku Website. That statistic alone should be reason enough to give this a try, never mind that ALL FEATURED VIDEOS ARE FREE TO WATCH too !!

Having said that, if this particular Hallowe'en / Horror themed Roku channel was not to your liking then FEAR NOT because there will be another one featured in tomorrow's post, continuing the month-long blogathon that is: "A MummyVision Guide To Hallowe'en On Roku"which will bring you more devilish delights EACH AND EVERY DAY from now UNTIL HALLOWE'EN and when you're done with this blog, don't forget to visit the other contributors to the 2013 Countdown To Hallowe'en and see what Hallowe'en treats they have in store for you between now and October 31st !!